Donald Trump has told Iran its “whole civilization will die tonight” as Tehran showed no signs of agreeing to the president’s demands by his 8 p.m. deadline.
“A whole civilization will die tonight, never to be brought back again,” the president wrote in a Truth Social blast around 8 a.m. Tuesday, just twelve hours before the window he has given for the Strait of Hormuz to reopen ends. “I don’t want that to happen, but it probably will,” he added.
Trump further called on the Iranian people to bring about an end to the conflict he started five weeks ago by rising up against their oppressive government.
“Now that we have Complete and Total Regime Change, where different, smarter, and less radicalized minds prevail, maybe something revolutionarily wonderful can happen, WHO KNOWS?” he wrote.
The president then ominously warned that “we will find out tonight, one of the most important moments in the long and complex history of the World” before saying “God Bless the Great People of Iran,” whom he had just vowed to eradicate.
The U.S. hit up to 50 targets on Kharg Island, a key oil export hub that processes roughly 90 percent of the regime’s exports, in the hours before Trump’s post as he sought to pile pressure on the regime.
The Tuesday evening deadline is the fourth Trump has imposed on Tehran since launching his war on Feb. 28, and the second he has set this week alone after blowing past a Monday cutoff he had insisted only days earlier was “final.”
He declared in a furious rant over Easter that he would target civilian infrastructure if Iran did not back down and allow shipping through the Strait of Hormuz, a vital naval trade corridor that transports a fifth of the world’s oil supply.
Trump wrote on Truth Social: “Tuesday will be Power Plant Day, and Bridge Day, all wrapped up in one, in Iran.”
He ordered the regime to “open the f--king strait” or “be living in Hell” before signing off with “Praise be to Allah.”
By Monday, the president was insisting at the White House podium that the entire country could be “taken out in one night, and that night might be tomorrow night,” as well as suggesting he is “not at all” worried those strikes could amount to war crimes.
Brent crude, the global oil market benchmark, has surged roughly 50 percent over the five weeks since the war began, with shipping through the Persian Gulf now thought to be running at roughly 95 percent below pre-conflict levels. Meanwhile, the average U.S. gallon of gasoline has climbed past $4.11, its highest since 2022.
The Daily Beast has contacted the White House for comment on this story.
